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A gyereknek fáj a feje, ezért ma a lakásban marad.

A gyereknek fáj a feje, ezért ma a lakásban marad.
The child has a headache, so today she stays in the apartment.
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Questions & Answers about A gyereknek fáj a feje, ezért ma a lakásban marad.

Why does the sentence start with A gyereknek (dative) instead of something like A gyerek fáj…?

Hungarian often expresses physical sensations with an experiencer in the dative: X-nek fáj Y = Y hurts for X → “X has a pain in Y / X’s Y hurts.”
So A gyereknek fáj a feje literally means “To the child, his/her head hurts,” i.e. “The child has a headache.”

Why is the verb fáj in 3rd person singular?

Because the grammatical subject is a feje (the head), not the child.
So it’s “the head hurts” → fáj (3rd person singular).

What exactly does fáj a feje mean, and how is it different from the English “has a headache”?

Hungarian commonly says “(someone’s) head hurts” rather than using a “have” construction.

  • A gyereknek fáj a feje = “The child’s head hurts” → idiomatically “The child has a headache.”
    The meaning is the same; the structure is different.
Why is it a feje and not just fej or a fej?

fej = “head” (base form).
To say “his/her head,” Hungarian uses a possessive suffix:

  • fej-e = “his/her head” (or “the child’s head” from context)

So a feje = “his/her/the child’s head.” The article a is common before a possessed noun in Hungarian.

How do I know whether it should be feje or fejE vs fejE with a different spelling like fejje / fejja?

The possessive ending depends on vowel harmony and certain noun patterns. For fej, the 3rd person singular possessive is feje.
Compare:

  • a gyerek feje = the child’s head
  • a gyerek fejem would be wrong because -em means “my.”

(You’ll also see alternations like -ja/-je with many nouns, but fej specifically takes -e → feje.)

If I want to say “My head hurts,” what changes?

You’d change both the experiencer and the possessive:

  • Fáj a fejem. = “My head hurts.”
    Optionally you can add the dative pronoun for emphasis:
  • Nekem fáj a fejem. = “My head hurts (as for me).”
Why is there a comma before ezért?

ezért means “therefore/so,” and in Hungarian it commonly introduces a new clause. A comma is standard before it:
…, ezért … = “…, therefore … / …, so …”

What does ezért literally mean, and how is it built?

It’s ez (“this”) + -ért (“for/because of”).
So ezért literally means “for this,” and functionally “therefore / because of this.”

Why does it say a lakásban and not a lakásba?

Because -ban/-ben is the inessive case meaning “in (location), inside.”

  • a lakásban = “in the apartment” (staying there)
    -ba/-be would imply motion into:
  • a lakásba = “into the apartment” (going in)

Here the idea is staying inside, so -ban is correct.

What does marad mean here, and what form is it?

marad means “to stay / remain.”
Here it’s 3rd person singular present: (he/she) stays.

  • … marad = “(he/she) stays (in the apartment).”
Why is ma placed where it is? Could it move?

Yes, ma (“today”) is flexible. The sentence is natural as written, but you could also say:

  • A gyereknek fáj a feje, ezért a lakásban marad ma.
  • Ma a lakásban marad, mert fáj a feje.
    The focus can shift slightly depending on placement.
Could I replace ezért with mert (“because”)? What changes?

You can, but the clause order changes in a natural way:

  • With ezért: cause first, result second
    • A gyereknek fáj a feje, ezért ma a lakásban marad.
  • With mert: result first, cause introduced by “because”
    • Ma a lakásban marad, mert fáj a feje.
      Both are correct; they emphasize the flow differently.
Why is it A gyereknek with a? When would it be Egy gyereknek?
  • A gyereknek = “the child” (specific child known in context)
  • Egy gyereknek = “a child” (non-specific; introducing a new child)

So the sentence with A sounds like we already know which child we’re talking about.